City or suburbs? HGTV show helps folks decide

Would-be homebuyers, including ones in Vancouver, make the decision with the help of show hosts, both seasoned realtors

Among the couples taking part in the Vancouver-area episodes of Urban Suburban are Cherish and Andrew.The HGTV show premieres on Wednesday.

Photograph by: Handout photo
, Vancouver Sun

Mike and Angela are torn. The Vancouver couple, and their two young daughters, need to find new digs, and they have $700,000 to spend. They like being near the beach and within walking distance of amenities like shops and restaurants, but more than anything, they need room for their growing family and don't want to be house poor.

Sound familiar? It should, because when it comes to house hunting, space, price and location are the biggest factors in the decision, and unless you have an unlimited budget, chances are you'll be compromising on one or more of them.

In most big cities, like Vancouver and Toronto, that often means having to make the choice between small and expensive in the trendy city or big and affordable in the expansive suburbs.

And that is essentially the premise of Urban Suburban, an entertaining new HGTV show premiering Aug. 31 and featuring dilemma-plagued buyers weighing real estate pros and cons in cities right across Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax.

On hand to sort the real estate wheat from the chaff are hosts Sarah Daniels and Philip DuMoulin. They are brother and sister - she's 47, he's 44 - and both are Vancouver-born, licensed realtors.

Five years ago, Daniels left her highprofile job on the Global Morning News show and decided to immerse herself full-time in real estate, teaming up with her brother and working out of a local Re/Max office.

And, being a property junkie and a television veteran, she started dreaming up ideas for a Canadian real estate reality show that she could host.

It's a genre well-represented on HGTV and elsewhere, but Daniels and her business partner at the time began pitching the networks with an idea that had a competitive bent for the participants: Apartment or house? New or old? Urban or suburban?

As the idea took shape, it became clear that the struggle between city and country was becoming more and more common for homebuyers across the country, and it became obvious, too, that the show would be even more compelling with another layer of competition: sibling rivalry.

HGTV liked the idea, DuMoulin signed on and before long they were shooting a pilot and then 13 episodes and then another 13. They started shooting last May and filming is still underway.

The show, which is rather like House Hunters but with more of a focus on what neighbourhoods offer and how long commutes are, works on several levels.

For one thing, it's one of the few Canadian-made real estate shows that films outside of Toronto or Montreal, and its representation of the housing challenges in cities across Canada makes it that much more interesting and relevant to viewers.

"Our show has an element of House Hunters, and Location, Location, Location," says Daniels, "but it's also lifestyle-based. It's not just about buying a house, it's about where and how they are going to live."

Participants take "challenges" as part of the half-hour show, whether that's doing the 50-kilometre commute or checking out local daycares.

The home shoppers are shown three options each in the urban and suburban areas of their choice, and ultimately choose one of the six to buy. The four Vancouver episodes focus on Bowen Island vs. Commercial Drive, White Rock vs. Kitsilano, the West End vs. Metrotown and Tsawwassen vs. Queen Elizabeth Park.

Mike and Angela, who are featured in the first episode, are ultimately torn between a roomy, on-budget house with a yard in White Rock and a cramped over-budget townhouse with a postage-stamp patio in Kitsilano.

Daniels and DuMoulin put them through their paces, ensuring that the decision they ultimately make is based on marketplace knowledge and a lifestyle choice as much as it is pretty granite countertops and proximity to a gourmet cheese shop.

As hosts, DuMoulin and Daniels have an easy familial charm, one part teasing zingers, one part eye-rolling one-upmanship.

Sibling pairings are nothing new to real estate television, of course. There are the Property Brothers, with twins Jonathan and Drew Scott, the Allsopp sisters from Britain, Kirstie and Sofie, and Antiques Roadshow twins Leigh and Leslie Keno. Nor is the appeal a mystery: family dynamics always add a layer of creative tension.

As for which of the two is truly urban or suburban - in the show, DuMoulin does the urban, Daniels does the suburban - both live in White Rock.

It's been a hectic run. The sibs have been across Canada eight times since filming began three months ago, and they are still doing their day jobs back home, stickhandling negotiations and buying and selling homes for their regular clients.

So, with all this sibling synergy, are they getting sick of each other?

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